Anyone who knows me would laugh if I told them I was going to brew a session ale. For me, life starts at 1.060 OG and goes up from there!

As a part of our schwag for NHC 2011, we were given a commemorative bomber of San Diego Dark Session Ale, brewed by Alesmith in San Diego (the picture of the bottle on Beer Advocate is mine:) The ale was incredibly drinkable – sessionable even – but with enough lightly roasted hoppy flavor to meet my needs. The recipe was published in the May/June 2011 issue of Zymurgy as a 5 gallon recipe. I threw the ingredients into Beer Tools for a 10 gallon batch, adjusted the OG for my system’s efficiency, and I plan on brewing this on Labor Day. A starter of the new White Labs WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast is bubbling away on the stir plate as I type this entry. This is the second batch of ale that will be run through my new fermenter.

The weather here has been so hot I just haven’t wanted to brew and Monday is the coolest projected day for this weekend. Additionally, the 26 month old Sears refrigerator that I use for a fermentation vessel crapped out last week. Thankfully, it is now up and running again after a $139 repair bill. It’s time to brew!